An Empirical Assessment of Information Systems Planning and the Role of Information Systems in Organizations.

Author List: Premkumar, G.; King, William R.;

Journal of Management Information Systems, 1992, Volume 9, Issue 2, Page 99-125.

Research in the information systems (IS) field indicates that organizations have different roles for IS in their operations and that various aspects of strategic IS planning will vary depending on the IS role. This study empirically evaluates the differences in planning, organizational support, and performance characteristics of IS planning among organizations with different roles for IS. An operationalization of the "role of IS" is developed on the basis of the notion of a "strategic grid." The study also evaluates the relationship between various performance measures and the "fit" between the IS planning process and the role of IS in the organization.The data for the study were collected from a field survey of 249 firms. The results of the data analyses indicate that there are significant differences in planning, organizational support, and performance characteristics of IS planning among organizations with different roles for IS. The planning and support characteristics generally match the predictions implicit in the strategic grid, thereby partially validating it. Significant relationships exist between two of the performance measures, planning effectiveness and IS's contribution to organizational performance, and the "fit" between the role of IS and the quality of the planning process.

Keywords: fit between role of IS and IS planning; IS planning; organizational support for IS planning; role of IS in an organization; strategic grid.

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List of Topics

#78	0.253	planning strategic process management plan operational implementation critical used tactical effectiveness number identified activities years effective developed issues empirical plans
#276	0.244	satisfaction information systems study characteristics data results using user related field survey empirical quality hypotheses important success various indicate tested
#154	0.176	memory support organizations information organizational requirements different complex require development provides resources organization paper transactive depth process outside difficult breadth
#218	0.156	role roles gender differences women significant play age men plays sample differ played vary understand critical greater implications relatively offered
#114	0.133	performance firm measures metrics value relationship firms results objective relationships firm's organizational traffic measure market study improve accounting measuring aggregate